JOMC 491 Teaching Broadcast Journalism

JOMC 491 Why Inverted Pyramid Get important information out first. Stories must fit the page. Pressure.

JOMC 491 Why Inverted Pyramid doesn’t work Not enough space or time. One chance to get the news. Get the attention of the listener. Can lead to excesses.

JOMC 491 Broadcast Writing Clarity. Simple declarative sentences with active verbs. “The bat hit the bat.” NOT “The ball was hit by the bat.” Passive voice weak and NOT conversational.

JOMC 491 Format Script on right side of page. Audio/video instructions on left side of page. Double or triple spaced. Upper and lower case. Three-word slug. Date Name. Total running time.

JOMC 491 Punctuation Don’t over punctuate. Use period, comma, question mark and dash. Maybe the ellipsis. Do NOT hyphenate at end of sentence. Do hyphenate some words even when it is grammatically incorrect.

JOMC 424 Direct Quotes Do NOT Use direct quotes. “I’m innocent.” If it is distinctive, colorful, dramatic, emotional, or adds special meaning. Paraphrase.

JOMC 491 Sound bites Emotion. Reaction. “Write objectively; use subjective sound.”

JOMC 491 Abbreviations Avoid. Writing for the ear. Hard to read. Use well-known abbreviations…FBI, CIA, UNC (here), NASA.

JOMC 491 Numbers Spell out one through nine. Use figures for others. Write out thousand, million, billion. 3-million, 8-thousand, etc.

JOMC 491 Dates May 16 th NOT May 16 January first NOT January 1

JOMC 491 Symbols Don’t use them. $, %, #

JOMC Important Differences Telling NOT chronicling. The fewer the better. One idea per sentence. Brief.